Four Sequels That Couldn’t: A Cautionary Tale
The story is right there! Don’t over think it. It is a sequel. Sequels should be simple, stupid!
Category Archives: Active Observation
On Klute, Pakula, and The Paranoia Of The ‘70s
In which thoughts on director Alan J. Pakula and cinematographer Gordon Willis’s paranoid ’70s trilogy are thunk.
The World According To Garp: Not What It Used To Be
A childhood favorite I should have left alone.
Ali: Fear Eats The Soul – A Weird Name For A Great Movie
Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the more colorful directors in movie history. To put it mildly. To put it another way, he was a madman.
Three and a Half Godzillas – Part 3: The Joyless 2014 Version
On the bright side, following this film’s destruction, you might be able to afford an apartment on Russian Hill.
Calvary Makes You Cross
Calvary pokes your conscience with a stick to see if it’ll twitch. Depending on the answer, you might laugh or get cross. Or both.
Blue Ruin: A Man, A Car, And Lots of Dead People
The question Blue Ruin brought to mind was something nebulous about what makes a movie “good.” Because, on the one hand, Blue Ruin is in many ways a very good movie. On the other, it’s not really about anything other than being a good movie.
Brain Food #1: Romero’s Night of the Living Dead
Let the zombie banquet begin!
Memories Of Robin Williams
Robin Williams? I remember Robin Williams…
To Lauren Bacall I Engrave All
I’d like to tell you about who she was and what she meant to me, but I can’t. She was Lauren Bacall.
Robin Williams; Laughing and Crying
And the fool replied, “I don’t know. I only knew that you were thirsty.”
Three and A Half Godzillas – Part 2: The Reviled 1998 Version
Watching the deservedly maligned 1998 Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin “reimagining” of Godzilla for a second time was not easy. I saw it in the theater when it opened and thought it was crap then. I was not alone.
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue Is Some Damn Fine TV
A master director makes a brilliant TV show. And I’m not talking about Soderbergh and The Knick.
A Few Words On The Hit, And Director Stephen Frears
What the hell? There’s a movie starring Terrance Stamp, John Hurt, and Tim Roth released in ’84, called The Hit? How had I never heard of this before? Wait, Tim Roth? What was he, like 12 when he made this?